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Amidst the swirling vortex of VAR controversies and Celtic's stirring last-gasp two-goal salvo that turned one point into three in the 4-2 win over Dundee United, something big actually ducked under the radar on Saturday.

Montenegrin Sead Haksabanovic netted his first two goals for the club, and that now means all the attackers in the squad have netted 35 times this season between them.

It may have been a slow burner for the man who cost a bargain £1.7million when he arrived from Russia back in August, however, his contribution thus far has not been lost on Parkhead boss Ange Postecoglou.

Indeed if you look at the 23-year-old's stats, they do make for impressive reading. To date, he has played 339 minutes of football for the Scottish champions totalling seven appearances. He has a passing accuracy of 88 per cent and a shooting accuracy of 83 per cent. He has played 10 key passes and scored two goals.

He is also versatile, as the player can be deployed as a winger or as an attacking midfielder. The Australian must know he has another gem of a player on his hands, and the Bhoys supporters feel it too.

This is why the ex-Socceroos coach was extolling the virtues of Haksabanovic immediately after the Dundee United game when he said: “It was good for him. He has been working hard. I think we will see the best of Sead in the second half of the season because he missed pre-season. But he has been contributing for us.

"We watch him in training every day and he has got goals in him for sure. He is really creative, a great technical player, and that will give him confidence. It was good to see."

Celtic Way:

It is worth noting that the player is still getting himself up to speed, having missed pre-season due to the war in Ukraine.

Once the Montenegrin hits his stride, Celtic will have another forward who looks like he will get bums off seats. It adds to the layer of attacking options in the final third for Postecoglou, who is now in real danger of being spoilt for choice in that department.

The 23-year-old rightfully won the player of the match award against the Tangerines and has now set his sights on plundering more goals for the Hoops.

He made the tap-in from Jota's sumptuous cross from the left look ever so easy, and he was also on hand to hammer Giorgos Giakoumakis's accurate-headed knockdown towards goal. Granted, Mark Birighitti in the Dundee United goal did not exactly cover himself in glory for the second of the two strikes, but you work on the old adage that if you don't shoot, you won't score.

Ask any frontman and they will tell you goals work wonders for a player's confidence levels. Haksabanovic will probably now be feeling as good as he has felt since he joined the club.

It was that very quality that the ex-Russian Premier League player alluded to when he was interviewed immediately after his brace against the Taysiders. He said: "I am happy and hopefully, I can score some more goals. Now my confidence is higher hopefully, in the next game, I can get one or two as well."

Forget VAR. Forget the late comeback. He is going to be tearing up Scottish football soon enough. The early signs are full of promise.

Furthermore, after the next two Scottish Premiership games against Motherwell and Ross County, the Australian will have ample time to get some much-needed fitness into the Montenegrin international's legs. The five-week break could well turn out to be a godsend for the forward.

After helping the Parkhead side to a healthy seven-point lead at the top of the table, the champions are in no mood at this juncture to relinquish their league crown.

Haksabanovic is finally off the mark for the Bhoys. That weight and burden have been lifted from a player who, by his own admission, is not fully fit and firing on all cylinders.

His fan club is steadily increasing among the Hoops faithful as the 23-year-old is starting to put the 'grin' in Montenegrin.

This piece is an extract from today’s Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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